Are you worried about the complicated flow of the entire process after enrolling at a driving school, and the deadlines and periods that must be adhered to in that flow? By understanding the entire process explained here, you will be able to understand not only the process leading up to graduation, but also the overall period and deadlines for each part. In addition, we will also tell you about the written exam preparation and strategies for those who are worried about not being able to pass the written exam during the entire process from enrolling at a driving school to graduating. . Once you have finished reading, you will no longer have to worry about your Driving School life. Campus life is a little different from high school or university, so please make it a wonderful memory that will last a lifetime.

The process from application to Final Driving Test and license acquisition

1. Apply to driving school
2. Enrollment procedures (orientation)
3. aptitude test
4. 1st stage
5. Driving Test
6. Karimenkyo Written Test exam
7. 2nd stage
8. Final Driving Test
   
   
   The above is the process at the driving school, and the process after that until you get your license is as follows.
9. License center's main license exam
10. Get your license
    
    

3. What is the aptitude test?

Aptitude tests include a visual acuity test, color discrimination ability, hearing test, motor ability test, and a driving aptitude test conducted in the form of a questionnaire. For example, for a regular driver's license, a visual acuity test of 0.7 or higher in both eyes and 0.3 or higher in one eye is required. Even if the visual acuity in one eye is less than 0.3, it is OK with the naked eye as long as the visual acuity in the other eye is 0.7 or higher and the visual field is 150 degrees or more left and right. Please note that if your vision does not meet this requirement, you will be required to use glasses or contacts when driving.

What is Driving Test and Final Driving Test?

Driving Test is conducted on the driving school's premises and is a practical test to check whether you have mastered basic driving skills.
Final Driving Test is the final practical test taken when graduating from a driving school.
These items will be judged by examiners at the driving school. The pass/fail mark is 70 points out of a possible 100 points. In order to ensure the fairness and impartiality of the test, there will be multiple test-takers or a third person will be on board. If you make even one big mistake, the test may be cancelled, so please stay alert until the very end.

What are provisional licenses and permanent licenses?

Provisional license is an abbreviation for provisional driving license. It is also sometimes called a provisional license. A driver's license is required for the second stage of on-road driving practice. Also, the driver's license that you ultimately aim to obtain is called a hon license or hon license.

How long does it take on average to obtain a driver's license?

To obtain a driver's license, you must clear each step in step 10 above, but in general, the average period for obtaining a license is 2 to 3 months for students attending school.

What is the shortest acquisition period?

However, if you want to obtain it in the shortest possible time, you can complete the period up to Final Driving Test (8. Is possible. Please note that this number of days varies slightly depending on the prefecture and each driving school.

What is the maximum acquisition period?

In addition, the maximum period for training is nine months. Final Driving Test deadline is three months from the date of completion of all Driving Lessons and theoretical training, so you can stay at Driving School for a maximum of one year. However, in this case, the minimum condition is that your provisional license is valid until Final Driving Test. Also, the graduation certificate issued by the driving school is valid for one year.

Lesson Schedule

In the first stage, you can take up to two hours of practical training per day, and in the second stage, you can take up to three hours Driving Lessons per day.

If you can make consecutive Driving Lessons reservations on the same day, things will go smoothly, so please be careful when selecting your training reservation plan when applying.

 

Attendance style

• Driving Lessons is individualized
  Driving Lessons is generally conducted through one-on-one individual instruction. After each Driving Lessons the student's weak points are recorded and the instructor provides one-on-one instruction based on that chart. This allows students to resolve any doubts they may have on the spot without worrying about the eyes of other students. In addition, the instructor understands the student's level and is flexible in adjusting the distribution of material according to the student's strengths and weaknesses, so you can rest assured.
• Theoretical lessons are conducted in groups.
  On the other hand, academic lessons are conducted in groups, and each lesson is 50 minutes long, with about 10 minutes of the lesson being video learning. Therefore, you may suddenly feel sleepy or find it difficult to maintain motivation. Also, in group lessons, if you have any questions, it may be difficult to ask or have your questions resolved on the spot.

What do you do in stage 1?

The academic training is for 10 hours, and the content is all about laws and regulations, but we also learn a lot about pedestrian protection and driving etiquette. Driving Lessons will be conducted for 12 hours AT/15 hours MT to learn basic driving skills. All lessons are limited to driving within the course, and the training vehicle is equipped with an auxiliary brake, so if there is any danger, the instructor next to you will provide assistance, so accidents and injuries are highly unlikely. In the second half of the first stage, you will have time to practice driving at your own discretion without having an instructor next to you during radio lessons.

After completing all of the first stage training, you will take Driving Test (practical test: pass with 70 points or more out of 100) and the Karimenkyo Written Test test (pass with 45 points or more out of 50). If you pass both, you will be issued a provisional driver's license.

What will happen in the second stage?

The theoretical training consists of 16 hours, covering knowledge for safe driving and first aid.
Driving Lessons consists of 19 hours, most of which are conducted on the road (including highway training). However, some of the training is conducted on the in-house course and simulators, where students experience sudden braking, driving in adverse conditions, and setting up dangerous situations in which they can predict how to respond. By safely experiencing danger, students are able to better understand the safe driving knowledge they learn in theory.
After completing all of the second stage lessons, you will receive a graduation certificate after passing Final Driving Test (you must score 70 or more out of 100 points to pass the practical test).

the last end

After that, you will take the written test at the driver's license center (you need 90 or more points out of 100 to pass), and if you pass, you will be issued your license on the same day.

The above is the general flow from enrollment to graduation at the driving school. There are some important deadlines and periods that occur after you start training, such as when you are unable to adjust your schedule as planned and the training schedule is significantly delayed. If you are unable to proceed to the next step within this deadline, you will have to go through the process of re-training, etc., which will greatly delay your graduation from the driving school and obtaining your license, so please be careful. Driving school staff and instructors will check it for you, but if you're worried, you can take a photo and remind yourself.

Five deadlines to keep in mind

1. Validity of lessons: 9 months
   You must complete the entire Driving Lessons and theoretical training course within nine months of starting your training.
2. Validity of the written test Karimenkyo Written Test: 3 months
   After passing Driving Test skill exam, you must pass the written Karimenkyo Written Test exam within three months. If more than 3 months have passed, you will have to take the skill exam Driving Test again.
3. Validity of provisional driver's license: 6 months
   After passing Driving Test, you must pass the provisional license theory test and have a provisional license issued for six months. If your provisional license expires, you will not be able to take Final Driving Test.
4. Final Driving Test validity period: 3 months
   Students must pass Final Driving Test within three months of completing Driving Lessons and academic training of the entire course. Please note that even if there is still a training deadline, it will become invalid once it has passed.
5. Graduation certificate validity: 1 year
   Please be aware that if you do not pass within this one-year deadline, you will have to start over from the beginning.

The biggest hurdle is the written exam

Next, let's talk about the most difficult part of the process that can throw off your initial plans: preparation for the written test. It is a stumbling block for many people who are trying to get a driver's license.

As mentioned earlier, the first stage (in-house training) concludes with a Karimenkyo Written Test test and a full license written test at the testing center before the license is issued.

 

90% is the winning/losing line

There are 50 questions for the provisional license test and 100 questions for the full license test, and in both cases a correct answer rate of 90% or more is the winning mark.

The passing grade for the provisional license is 45 or more correct answers, and for the full license, 90 or more correct answers. Don't underestimate the true/false questions.

 

Pass rates vary by prefecture and driving school.

In fact, the content of this written exam differs from prefecture to prefecture across the country, and there are multiple question formats.

Therefore, pass rates vary greatly depending on the prefecture and driving school.
Also, if you are a foreign national who has difficulty reading and comprehending Japanese, some prefectures allow you to take the exam in other languages, so why not consider this?

Here I will tell you the points that everyone stumbles on.

The scope of questions is wide-ranging

The scope of questions for Karimenkyo Written Test exam is 500 minutes of academic training in the first stage (10 periods x 50 minutes). In addition, for the main liberal arts exam, the scope of questions will be 1,300 minutes of academic training (26 periods x 50 minutes). In this subject, questions will be asked from a wide range of areas, so please concentrate on studying for one hour.

Here, I will introduce four common mistakes.

 1. Be careful of careless mistakes!

The more easily understood questions are written, the more likely you are to answer them without reading them properly and end up making a mistake. If you finish reading part way through and come up with an answer, and when you compare the answers, you may find yourself unable to understand why you wrote that answer.There may be some questions that you could have answered if you had read to the end. Careless mistakes can be avoided if you answer questions that seem simple carefully and carefully.

2. Be careful with Japanese expressions! Be careful with assertive expressions and commanding tone!

1. Assertive Expressions
   (1) If a child is walking alone, you must stop. Answer: False Just slow down or stop.
   (2) You must stop at a red light. Answer: No. Emergency vehicles (ambulances, fire engines, and police cars) are exempt from this rule.
   *Be careful if this happens!
2. You should memorize the numbers
   (1) The time from giving a signal to changing lanes
   (2) Passenger capacity
   (3) Parking space required on the right side of a car when parking on a road
   (4) Height restrictions for loaded items
   (5) The maximum time per day that a vehicle may be continuously parked on a road
   (6) No parking areas around road construction zones and fire hydrants
3. In addition, the Road Traffic Act does not have a commanding tone, and instead uses expressions such as ``you must do something'' and ``you must do something.'' You also need to be careful with words such as "Please do ~" and "There are times when it is better to do ~."

3. Use color to get a feel for the sign problem!

1. 標識問題で間違えやすいのは、似たような標識と間違えることです。 たとえば、
   (1) Red indicates danger (stop, prohibited, etc.)
   (2) Yellow signals caution (steep downhill slopes, collapsing road edges, etc.)
   (3) Blue is used to indicate directions (directions, signboards, etc.)
   *It is recommended that you first memorize these three colors and then understand the shapes, as this will make things go more smoothly.

Now, I will teach you some strategies for preparing for these academic exams.

Strategy

1. Repetition
   The most important thing is to practice repeatedly. By solving practice problems over and over again, you will be able to understand the intention of the test maker and make the right choices even when faced with trick questions.
2. Time Allocation
   By practicing repeatedly, you will be able to get a feel for time management. Since the pass mark is 90% correct answer rate, it is fatal to read the questions poorly and miss questions that you should be able to answer. In order not to panic during the actual test, I think you can pass smoothly if you practice in advance and eliminate careless mistakes.

At driving schools, we track the pass rates for provisional licenses and regular licenses every month. Therefore, the questions you receive at the driving school are likely to reflect the latest question trends. Also, some driving schools have PCs available so you can practice solving problems at your own convenience.

Use these PC practice tools and the problem sets provided by driving schools to solve problems repeatedly and thoroughly acquire knowledge.

summary

A once in a lifetime driving school. I hope that everyone who reads this article will fully enjoy campus life at the driving school, which will leave lifelong memories, and graduate smoothly. Please enjoy your wonderful car life.